>> yes, it did. i think we are ending the show. thank you, kennedy, schulz, terry, me. >> the o'reilly factor is on. tonight. breaking news, cia chief david petraeus abruptly resigns citing spra marital affair while questions over the deadly attack in benghazi continue to loom. plus,. >> while i believe it's important for us to secure our borders and to enforce our laws. i think comprehensive approach is long overdue. >> is speaker of the house john boehner caving to president obama's second term agenda? just three days after the election? and did he insult the tea party? >> we don't have a tea party caucus to speak of in the house. >> a leader of that movement will be here to respond. >> i have invited leaders of both parties to the white house next week so we can start to build consensus

around the challenges that we can only solve together. >> the fiscal cliff showdown heating up will democrats and republicans find common ground? we'll have a special report. >> nobody is surprised, right, that people are already starting to talk about the next republic ticket. marco rubleio, i think, has planned a trip to iowa. >> laura: it's already starting. rising g.o.p. star marco rubio's trip to iowa fueling 2016 speculation. mike huck huckabee with analysis. caution, you are about to enter the no spin zone and the factor begins right now. _ hi, everyone, i'm laura ingraham in for bill o'reilly. thanks for watching us tonight. we'll have the talking points memo in the next segment. but, first, our top story breaking news, the sudden

resignation of cia chief david petraeus. the director of the spy agency cited personal reasons, extramarital affair for his resignation. but questions have been dogging him for nearly two months over the attack in benghazi that left four americans dead. he is scheduled to be grilled about it by the house intel committee next week but fox news has now learned that he doesn't plan to testify at the hearing. joining me now from the pentagon fox news national security correspondent jennifer griffin with the latest. jennifer, i know you have been working your sources on this at the pentagon and if he cia. what do we know now and when was this issue of the affair first exposed? how did it come about? >> well, the first that it was exposed in terms of the conversation with the president occurred yesterday. general petraeus went over to the white house and he told the president that he thought he should resign. but what we're now learning from sources close to the fbi

is that the fbi had been investigating general petraeus and as part of a larger investigation, the name of paula broadwell, who is general petraeus' biographer. she wrote a book that came out in january called-"all in, the education of general david h. petraeus." she had spent about a year in afghanistan with him, documenting his life, and it seems that the fbi was investigating something broader. her name came up. they started investigating concern that general petraeus now head of the cia was possibly some sort of victim in it or could be -- could be blackmailed in some sort of way. they never found that. but in the process, they uncovered this affair. now, there are also questions that are raised tonight, laura, about if this affair eral key facee he was still a some sort of military

punishment? of course, it's against the ucmj code to van affair. could he be demoted? key face further cobs sequences? we really don't know the answer to that right now. sources confirming to fox that the affair was with paula broadwell, his biographer. she wrote the book "all in" earlier this year. >> jennifer, did this come to light before the election? or after the election? why are we just learning about this three days after the election, jennifer, and three days before he is slated to testify at those all-important hearings on capitol hill that you have been reporting on? >> well, we also just learned after the election about the iranians firing on a u.s. predator yen to. >> laura: we're getting into that later. >> so, yes, the timing of this is very suspicious. in terms of the fact that he no longer will have to testify before the house and senate intel committee. >> laura: he is choosing not to, right, jennifer? he is choosing not to. he could testify, key not? >> that's right. but he is choosing not to.

there are going to be some heated discussions and questions from members on capitol hill who were frustrated by his previous responses after the benghazi attacks. he had emphasized the intelligence community didn't know who had been behind the attacks and had talked a little bit about a -- the anti-islamic video which we now know not to have been the reason for the attack on the consulate. there were members who wanted to question him about that they also questioned while he down played how organized a group this group that attacked the cia annex and compound were. right now he is not having to testify but, again, the senate and house committees they do have subpoena powers and they could subpoena him. >> jennifer, as always, thank you so much for your reporting on this disturbing story. coming up next, is house speaker john boehner caving into the president? a special talking points memo is ahead.

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call now for your free information and this free $50 savings card. call now! >> laura: in the unresolved problem segment tonight, the danger of moving to the middle. that's the subject of this evening's talking points memo. i received a call today from a reporter asking me if mitt romney lost because of talk radio and the tea party. and whether the g.o.p. had to soften its views to appeal to women and to latinos. funny, the media pushed that same narrative after the g.o.p.'s 2006 midterm wipeout and after mccain's 2008 loss to obama. let me just tell you, if anything mitt romney distanced himself from much of the talk radio world. he made only 3 brief appearances on my radio show over the past year.

and his campaign was lived when i had the nerve to ask the governor, whom i endorsed by the way in 2008, how he planned to win the election if the economy showed signs of improvement. the fact is, talk radio continues to thrive. while moderate republics like john mccain and to some extent mitt romney continue to lose presidential elections. and while the tea party has backed some terrible candidates. richard murdock, todd akin and christine o'donnell, it also made the 2010 g.o.p. route possible. grass roots conservatives helped elect senators marco rubio in florida. ted crews in texas and this time deb fisher in that nebraska senate race. where is the evidence that proabortion or pro-gam gay marriage or pro-amnesty but fiscally conservative candidates are are the solution to the g.o.p.'s problem? moderates like scott brown and charlie summers just lost their senate races in massachusetts and maine. both blue states.

would their type of republic have won in conservative red states? of course not. until more liberal republicans start winning their races, why should they dictate the terms of a new g.o.p. agenda? yes, republics, of course they need to attract more single women and latinos. but pandering isn't the answer. good policy and good politics is. i don't think it's any harder to convince more hispanics or more single women irish catholics eye tannial immigrants new deal or jfk democrats become conservatives during the reagan area. if you believe like i do that social economic poes are the best hope for the nation. then aban dogging your positions to become more popular is a path to complete irrelevant. did barack obama moderate his views after the 2010 mid terms? did he roll back parts of obama care? did he stop green energy

subsidies? >> he aggressively pursued his ayen da with executive order and smart mess sacking and he won re-election. and that's the memo. now john boehner vs. the tea party. does he think it should just go away at this point? this is what he said yesterday. >> this has been the most ten years as tenure. we don't have a tea party caucus to speak of in the house. >> laura: joining me from salt lake city mike leah republic from utah who is also a self-described tea partier. all right, senator. you heard the talking points memo. what do you think of this concern now among many on the right that john boehner some of his comments yesterday about compromise i'm not going to move to try to roll back obama care anymore. maybe parts of it. is he kind of giving a stiff

arm to the tea party at this point? >> i'm not sure what his intent was. he is not here to speak for himself. this party has benefited because of the grass roots conservative movement that moved in 2009. some have called it the tea party. that brought us a republic victory in 2010. in the house it brought us some victories in the senate. it has continued to benefit the party in the 2012 election cycle. the fact that we sustained some defeats in part because we betrayed some of our principles as a party doesn't mean we should retreat from these conservative principles. itens 'we embrace them whole partiedly. the president came out today and he said i will compromise but basically taxes are going up on the rich. rates are going to group. and that's what the people wanted. meanwhile our people come out and say well, revenues are on the table. i just think the democrats talk a good game about compromise. in the end it's his way or the

highway. that's what he sees. i don't see what republicans gain by already creeing so much territory right off the bat. >> especially, laura, when it's territory that belongs in the philosophical realm. the when idea of this movement is to make us more ideologically consistent in our conservatism. to help us sell this policy, this message that seas look whether you are a woman or whether you are hispanic or some other background you will will benefit as the government gets out of your way. the government is an impedestrian want toward success and prosperity in this country if we let it grow out of control. that's exactly what we have done. >> laura: do you think boehner meant anything by those comments? he said there is no tea party caucus here. i thought michele bachmann the head of the tea party caucus, i'm sure allen west i guess that recount is going on down in florida could lose it. might not lose it but, to me, i mean i know a lot of these people. it seems like there is a

strong tea party group on capitol hill and kind of demoralizing. you know, after 2010 drubbing that the democrats had. the democrats all got together and are like we are going to find a new way to market liberalism. find a sandra fluke or go for gay marriage and put together these constituencies and roll that right to re-election. and they inspired a lot of people. it was a brilliant strategy. they don't move to compromise on their principles, do they, senator? >> no, they don't. and it was n. an historic takeover that occurred in 2010. it was made possible by the tea party movement. again, a movement that was just designed to make us focus more on what we really believe as republicans. i really don't know what john boehner meant about this tea party caucus. it may have been that all he meant was that the tea party cause is itself the republic cause. if that's all he meant, then i agree with him wholeheartedly. >> laura: on the obama thing, senator, to say that obama care, he said obama care is the law of the atlanta. well, that technically is true, of course. nemples, there are all sorts

of things that you can do, control of one house of congress to hurt the implementation of a law that's still wildly unpopular. more importantly, republicans despise go out there and take the air out of the balloon. maybe some of this is overstated, but i think after the kicking and the teeth that we got on tuesday, we are looking for some hope from john boehner. he was good on the tax rate issue today, i should say. we're not going for tax rate increases. i think that is the kind of stuff people want to hear. >> that's what we need to hear. we do need to double down on our message. obama care is wrong, not because it came from obama but because it will hurt the most vulnerable members of our society. we can't allow that to happen. we, as conservatives we who believe in liberty. we who believe in prosperity and want all americans to have it must make this message clear. that government often is the problem. and we have got to get it out

of the way. >> laura: senator, we shouldn't become a pro-choice party to win women voters. is that what you are saying. >> that is what i am saying. >> i thought you agreed with the talking points memo. senator, thank you so much. great toe sue. coming up next. the 50's call showdown is looming. why is president obama leaving the country in the face of this financial crisis? he is taking a plane out. we're going to take a look at that. former democrat turned conservative davis will enter the no spin zone. he has an interesting take on how the g.o.p. can bounce back from mitt romney's defeat. those reports coming up.

>> laura: in the impact segment tonight, in his first address citizens election day, president obama tried to calm concerns about the looming

fiscal cliff. >> i'm not wedded to every detail of my plan. i'm open to compromise. i'm open to new ideas. i'm committed to solving our fiscal challenges. but, i refuse to accept any approach that isn't balanced. on tuesday night we found out that the majority of americans agree with my approach. >> laura: i will interpret that for you, we are going to raise taxes. will the president deliver on this compromise? it's worth noting he did not allow questions from the media today despite it being common practice for presidents to do so in their first post election appearances. the white house says obama will hold a news conference next wednesday. joining me how from new york david callahan a senior fellow at a liberal think tank. okay, david, fiscal cliff, the president came out and he had that wallpaper of america behind him. it was very pretty scene. talked about compromise and

i'm willing to take all ideas. and i felt like i was -- it was a flashback to the health care debate where he was going it take all ideas and we had that one meeting near the white house with republicans. but, in the end, it was kind of a ram through. day really think is going to be a lot of compromise? >> i hope it's not too much compromise. work very hard for re-election, labor ons, progressive activists who don't want to see him give away the store to republic leaders. look, most of the ideas on the table including president obama's go too far don't raise enough revenue and make too deep cuts in social spending. americans don't want that. i think we need a balanced approach here. the president had it right. i think he needs to go for much more revenue than he discussed. just az aring taxes on the wealthy does not need for $4 trillion in the next decade just raising taxes on the wealthy. that would only raise less

than a trillion dollars. so, the rest would be in spending cuss? look, that's not what people voted for. that's not what people worked for in trying to reelect this president. >> by the way. remember, david, that politic fact which is non-partisan fact checking group, when they reviewed the president's plan to reduce the deficit over 10 years, $4 trillion, it didn't pass the test. because you had to basically include spending cuts that took place last year in the president's analysis. that whole i'm going to cut spending by $4 trillion. you don't like that. the independent analysts have said what the president had already planned for and campaigned on in the elections, it doesn't work. it doesn't even come up to that of spending cuts. it's even worse according to your viewpoint. >> well, i will tell you, laura, what i would like it see happen is let all of those bush tax cuts laps lapse. remember when they were passed a decade ago we had a surplus.

there was a view back then that those tax cuts needed to be temporary. that's why they were supposed to it laps. in retrospect those tax cuts weren't affordable then. they certainly aren't affordable now with the spending and deficits we need. we have baby boomers retiring. we have china rising. we have big needs in terms of investment and infrastructure science and. >> intending. >> a lot of spending. we can't afford those bush tax cuts. >> laura: how high should the rates be, terrified? >> i would go back to those clinton era rates. >> laura: we're $16 trillion in debt, david. you're a ph.d. you probably know math better than i do. $16 trillion you could tax everyone over a million dollars at 90%, that's going to get you really far, david, it doesn't get you anywhere. >> look. a good start would be to go back to those clinton era tax rates for everyone. these were good times. high offer stacks on the trip, crifted a lot of enough rich

people and economic prosperity. >> that's going to create more rich people in the time already seeing anemic growth? do you think rich people are going to hire more people when they have less money in their own pocket? they will hire more? >> look, the longer term to crediting transparency. we need to invest in infrastructure. >> laura: when you say we invest. >> we collectively through government, laura as taxpayers. >> laura: david, you have got to be very clear on this. when you say we invest. it sounds awesome. everybody's more money for schools if it is spent correctly. when you say we invest. we are borrowing the money from china and germany and japan and other countries. >> that's why we need. laura. >> laura: we're not investing anything. we are borrowing the money and then we are having to pay it back with interest. when you say we -- >> -- that's why we need higher revenues. look what california just did. it raised taxes and voted for higher taxes. >> laura: businesses are fleeing california, david. they are leaving california en masse because of the taxes

there. >> excuse me silicone valley is one of the strongest economic growth centers in america. hollywood one of the strongest. >> silicone valley and hollywood is not the entire state. silicone valley a lot of countries have moved to nevada and texas, including start up companies that can't start up. bigger companies have much easier time in california but california is in billions of collars of debt because of high taxes and regulations. >> laura, there is more millionaires in california than all the red states combined. this is jmpleghts money doesn't buy you brains. it buys you nice houses in brethrenwood. >> higher revenue. making key investments. >> tell france and portugal and spain that. france is raising the tax rate to 90%. in france businesses are leaving france. >> stop changing, nobody is talking 90%. you always use that number it's totally bogus. we are talking about going back to clinton. >> laura: it's a job killer. it's going to kill more jobs. >> 24 million.

>> laura: a congressman who turned on his party now has some provocative thoughts on republicans and the african-american vote. he will be here to explain and then preelection lay off threats are now a post election reality. we have a disturbing report. up

>> laura: in the personal story segment tonight, it were former democratic congressman and co-chair of the 2008 obama campaign gave a rousing speech at the republic convention

this year after switching parties. he joins me enough to with some insight on why romney lost and what the g.o.p. needs to do moving forward. it's great to see you first of all. >> thank you, laura, good to see you in person. >> laura: a lot of postmortem. coroners examining the patient. what's the cause of death this campaign? what's your take? >> this is a conversation republicans ought to be having because we have got some work to do. we had the lowest numbers with latinos that we have had since they have done exit polls on the subject. we lost virginia because of the gender gap. we lost ohio, michigan, wink, and pennsylvania because we couldn't close the deal with blow collar workers who have been victimized by the obama economy in the last four years. i'm not going to pretend to you that there is one thing that we can do. i don't think it's a matter of moving left or center as opposed to being on the right we have got to be the reform party. talk about education reform. we have got to talk about market based approaches to

healthcare. >> substantive conservative you have got to convert people. >> we have got to be the ideas party. you can't sell ideas until you come up with them. as you know, there are a lot of people who have been working the conservative ranks the last several years coming up with good creative ideas. some of the best ideas on dealing with foreclosures are ideas that republicans conservatives come up with. we didn't talk about them in their campaign. some of the best ideas expanding the middle class and talking about those things. we haven't frankly found a way to translate into our campaign yet. >> our tour, also at the same time, we can't avoid examining how this campaign was run. we find out that this or can a project, which was the get out the vote, measure the demographics group, millions of dollars poured into this, it was a disaster. apparently they got basic calculations wrong. basic projections wrong.

it's almost on the verge of political negligence recklessness. >> there is no question bad numbers. >> millions of republicans didn't vote. millions of republicans didn't d. not turn out to vote. >> bad numbers were floating around. not just the romney campaign but the folks -- let's not kid ourselves. we lost this election because more people distrusted production than distrusted barack obama. we have got to fix that because barack obama in the next for four years is going to work very hard to consolidate his gains and to put them beyond the reach of one election. is he going to try to create gains that will take a generation to reverse. >> sure. but 2010, for instance, republicans grew the movement. appealed to people across the board. gender gap. was there not a significant. midterm election. but nevertheless, there was a transformative election. we had winds' we have two latino governors.

we have more female governors than the democrats. states are engines of growth and opportunity. that's a substantive argument. >> you know what we did in 2010? in 2010 we managed to take the tea party resurgent and marry it up with the middle class platform. >> it was obama care. that was the center of that tea party revolt. >> enough about obama care this year. >> laura: romney ever talked about obama care. >> one issue we as a party left of the table. according to the exit polls, 50% of voters on tuesday want to repeal obama care. not just change it or tinker but wants to get rid are of it. >> want it gone. we left some of those votes on the table because we didn't talk enough about it but in 2010. we managed to frankly reach out to working class middle income voters and convince them that we had a plan to create prosperity. >> laura: what about african-american voters that's vexing for republicans. again, my point is go to african-american neighborhoods. go to communities centers. just don't go to the naacp

meeting. >> as a reality, there are two groups who appear to be off limits right now politically for both sides. >> african-americans are off limits for republicans. southern white evangelicals were off limits for democrats. combination of ideology and identity. >> they can't be off limits. reagan went to the south and converted people in mississippi and alabama. >> you have got to do it. make an appearance. >> voters and latinos is what cost us about six states in this election. >> laura: i think when you can't win your home states of massachusetts, michigan, california -- >> -- working class latinos cost us six states. that's enough to have the presidency. >> laura: so amnesty is the answer? >> it's not the answer but we do have to reward work, responsibility and family. >> laura: bring your grandmother in. >> conservatives can embrace that. >> laura: marco rubio. >> conservatives can embrace that strategy. >> laura: great to see you as always. plenty more ahead. as the factor moves o. long this evening. election already.

marco rubio already heading to iowa. is the 2016 race off and running? mike huckabee will be here with results. major lay offs this week in the wake of the president's re-election. we will have the disturbing details. we hope you stay tuned to all those reports. >> announcer: meet jill. she thought she'd feel better after seeing her doctor. and she might have, if not for kari, the identity thief who stole jill's social security number to open credit cards, destroying jill's credit and her dream of retirement. now meet amanda. with a swipe of her debit card, she bought some gas... and an all-expense-paid trip to hawaii for ben. ben is the intity thief who used a device called a skimmer to steal her formation from her card to open a fraudulent account. every year millions of americans just like you learn that a little personal information in the wrong hands could wre havoc on your life. this is identity theft,

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>> laura: in the factor follow up segment tonight, florida senator marco rubleio, a rising star in the republic ranks will headline a fundraiser for iowa governor terry bran stead next week in des moines. cue 2016 presidential race speculation. joining me now someone who knows a little bit about travels to des moines to new york to discuss the former arkansas governor mike here on fnc hosts his very saturdays here at 8 schook:00 p.m. you made a few trips to iowa. i remember those days. a lot of us were cheering you back then. what do we make of this marco trip? >> i think first of all let's keep in mind. marco rubio is one of the rising as far as of the party. not just rising is he a star of the party and rightfully so. he is the one of the most artic could you lated. thoughtful and effective spokesperson. i love marco. he was my florida chairman when i ran for president. i was one of the first people to endorse him. keep your eyes on this guy. is he going places and i think he sfment iowa and new

hampshire are states in which once they sort of sniff around and find out that there is somebody who might be somebody on the national stage they ought to pay attention to. they will will get invited to iowa and new hampshire. it's not only an opportunity for the people in those early states to check out those individuals. but it's a chance for those people to go for a purpose totally other than running for president. but at least get their feet on the ground in those states. i think that's what marco rubio is up to. >> governor, a lot of conservatives are talking, of course, about what happened and how to move forward. what lessons we can learn and finger pointing for sure. but some interspeculation. moving forward into this next season which believe it or not has already begun, i think. don't conservatives need to pretty quickly coalesce not this week, not next month but quickly coalesce behind one person less les the establishment candidate runs again. you ran into that all these people one after another got into the race and jumped out

of the race at love us are saying expect mitt romney to get the nomination and again, i like governor romney a lot. the conservatives felt like oh, we didn't have our guy. yngs it's going to happen any time soon a dozen conservatives think they are that person. it needs to shake itself out. the best way for that to happen is to have a primary. the problem is that when the process of the primary becomes fratercide where everybody eats everybody alive. the person with the most money and at it with the most reaches into the establishment of the party who is going to win. and that's, you know, something that's going to happen to us. to so, i don't think, however, that we need to punish ourselves and say oh, we were too conservative. that is not why we lost. i don't think it was even a message election, laura. i think it was largely that we were out mobilized. barack obama turned out his voters. and for whatever reason, we just didn't.

and. >> laura: our voters weren't inspired for some reason. millions upon millions of republic voters stayed home, governor. and people like gingrich and santorum were warning about that last year. it's always easy to look back and hindsight is 2020. a lot of them were concerned that a more establishment type like mitt romney would not do that type of aggressive messaging on conservative issues that, for instance, won in 2010. and that have been so successful in various governors races as well. >> two things i want to mention. first, i do want to say i think mitt romney gave it his very best. he worked hard, he worked his heart out. i have got no criticisms of mitt romney. if anybody would want to criticize mitt romney. he was my opponent four years ago when we both ran. you know, i can probably find a way to do it. i'm not going to. i worked hard for him because he was the nominee. i think that's what we do as republicans. once we get a nominee. we close in the ranks and we help him. >> he also learned from campaigns that failed. he didn't get as many of the

mormon vote as john mccain did, governor. i mean -- >> -- i don't understand that. >> laura: we're beyond kind of niceties at this point. >> i'm still nice. >> laura: if you can't get the mormon vote in the same numbers as john mccain, something was really wrong with this campaign. and i like him very much. i think ann is delightful. i love the bushes. these people are wonderful people. but being wonderful and running a great campaign maybe are two different things sometimes. >> one of the problems that the conservatives have. they continue to want a perfect candidate and they are not going to get one. >> laura: sure. >> that's one of the reasons they don't get a perfect candidate well i'm not going to help anybody. when conservatives will give money and they will will actually give their energy and they will accept the fact that whatever candidate they support will have some flaws he won't be perfect. this, i think pushed to perfection ends up leading to anything but the -- you think that's what it was? a push to perfection we had

major problems with orka project. hundreds of millions of dollars were raised by third party groups and thenned up returning very little on investment. >> that was always -- i can still tell you that one of the issues we have is that we tend to be the most punishing party when it comes to anyone who take as position or has that may not suit everybody well. we have got to get over that democrats come together and they close in the ranks. >> got continue to expire people too, right? >> sure. >> politics is inspiration, getting people excited about you. the people aren't supposed to drag you over the finish line. you are supposed to drag the people over if you are a politician that's why you were so successful, governor. >> come on you are in good company, governor. give me a break. >> laura: when we come back, an alarming report about massive layoffs and american businesses, of course, bracing for four more years now for barack obama.

why did the white house wait until after election day to tell us about an iranian attack on a u.s. drone? we're going to have a report. the factor will continue in just a moment. i was having trouble getting out of bed in the morning because my back hurt so bad. the sleep number bed conforms to you. i wake up in the morning with no back pain. do you toss and turn? wake up with back pain? if so, call us now. you'll learn how the sleep number bed helps relieve back pain by allowing you to adjust the firmness and support to conform to your body for a more proper spinal alignment. just look at this research... ® 93% of participants experienced back-pain relief. plus it's a great value because it costs about the same an innerspring yet lasts twice as long. so if you want to sleep better or find relief for your bad back, call now. call the number on your screen for your free information kit with dvd brochure and price list. call now and we'll include a free $50 savings card.

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>> laura: thanks for staying with us, i'm laura ingraham in for bill o'reilly. in the second unresolved problem segment tonight, in the weeks leading um to election day, some company executives warned of layoffs if president obama won a second term. here you have it on the day after the election, coal producer murray energy laid off nearly 160 workers. sighting the president's energy policies as the cause. what can we expect in the days and weeks ahead. joining me now kirsten dorsey director of external and government affairs at the

economic policy institute. okay, christian. i have like two pages of companies that v.a. announced layoffs. >> it's a growing list. >> laura: in the last three days. everyone from boeing, to cat pillar, lock keyed harr continue, boston scientific, these are thousands of jobs if you add them all up. >> yeah. >> laura: what's going on here. a lot of them citing obama care because of the implementing cost of that. >> nothing related to the election of the president should be a reason why anybody is going through layoffs. it's not like it was a surprise that the president could have won re-election on tuesday. that should have been something that people maybe put a part of their first alert forecast for a long time. and anybody who needs to lay off workers right now, they had systemic problems long before tuesday. >> laura: businesses aren't making legitimate business decisions exside technology, bristol myers. >> they might be legitimate business decisions but it's not because of the results of the election. come on. >> laura: some of them are actually saying it's the result of the election. >> they may be saying it to

absolve them of their own i how the business has or has not grown, really come on. >> laura: you think that employers generally enjoy laying off part-time? i actually know a lot of people who run medium sized businesses. they are never happier than when they are in hiring mode. that means business is growing. money on the take. >> absolutely. >> laura: they do have to plan do they not for the implementation of this knew monstrosity. this is a big big burden to businesses. >> you mean healthcare? >> laura: yeah, obama care. it is a big number for businesses to swallow at a time where margins are quite narrow. a lot of these people these aren't political decisions. a lot of these people i assume voted for president obama. a lot of them probably supported him initially but a business is business. this could be devastating for this economy. >> let's take boeing, for example, boeing is not laying off anyone because of healthcare. boeing already provides healthcare to their employees at a level that makes the affordable care act not really

am canal to them. that's not' the reason. what else is going on. >> laura: other taxes that are also going to kick in because there is very little faith that this fiscal cliff deal will actually be solved in a way that brings long term reform. again, as i say, i know people. a lot of folks in business that i know, again, many of whom supported barack obama said, look, romney knows business. we know that the burden on us is going to get less if he is elected. that money is going to go into the market. we have had a sell off in the market over three days. >> um-huh. >> laura: it's been difficult times. i want to get this on the record. you don't think any of this is the result of their decisions because of obama's policies? >> let's look at it this way. the market sell off, for example, if you are telling me for the better part of the last year and a half likely that president obama would win election or at worse it was extremely close. wasn't prepared for barack obama to be reelected on wednesday morning. i don't have a lot of faith

that actors in the market are. >> do you think it's coincidence that laying off in the week after the election. >> weather it's coincidence or not doesn't mean it's good sound business practice. if you were hoping against hope that mitt romney won. >> laura: they don't want to lay off people if, indeed they are going to be able to keep the people because of the cost structure. why would they want to preemptively lay off people. they want to wait until it's absolutely certain that these extra costs and extra taxes are going to have to generally kick in. >> then they are certainly doing it prematurely because nothing has kicked in yet. >> laura: have to kick in because the investment tax obama care. >> that was something even if mitt romney got elected would be a real possibility because barack obama and the republic congress would be adjudicating the fiscal cliff. >> laura: romney would have been able to work with members in congress than obama. >> romney still wouldn't have been in until january 20th.

>> laura: we are both wearing purple by the way. purple tie, purple dress. killing kennedy number one, killing lincoln number three amazing accomplishment. congrats, bill. if you want signed copies go to bill o'reilly.com. if you become a bill o'reilly.com premium member you get your choice of books totally free straight ahead. iran tries to shoot down a u.s. drone international airspace it happened a week ago so why the heck didn't we learn about it until after election day? we'll have the details right back, 60.

>> in the back of the back segment, very troubling news out of iertion ran. according to the pentagon, an unarmed u.s. drone was an international air space on november 1. when iranian war planes opened fire. fortunately, the aircraft was not hit. in response, washington has issued a formal protest to the iranian authorities.

but questions are being raised about why we are just now learning about this. >> here, we have an incident that occurs november 1. we have an election 5 days later. we hear nothing about it until two days after the election. so either our u.s. intelligence agencies take a week to ascertain that one of our drones has been shot at, or this is an obvious attempt to manipulate information. joining me from l.a., former spokesman for the last four u.s. bam -- ambassadors to the unite unite. we are getting a lot of late news. but let's focus on the u.s. drone issue. tell us about this, your initial thoughts? >> there are two points. 1, we have a provocative act in international air space this. attack cannot go unanswered. as has been the norm. we have the plot to kill an ambassador in washington.

we have the killing of owsh ambassador in libya. and yet the obama administration really keeps turning the other cheek. i think it is providing our enemies and others a sense that we are weak. if democrats want the example that conservatives keep saying that the obama administration is weak, this is the perfect example. nothing has been done. the second part of this is the timing of it. i mean, come on, if it took this long to figure out what's going on, why did it take less than an hour to tell us about the killing of osama bin laden? the simple fact is that every time there is good news, this administration rushes to scott chain and david sanger at the new york times and backgrounds them immediately. but every time there is bad news, we wait and we hold the informs for a more acceptable political timing. and yet, we have the mainstream media, including almost over white house reporter, who doesn't notice. >> rick, again, it steams like

this happens all the time. the claims that we are the most transparent administration ever and whether it is on this story or whether it's on benghazi, it is drip, drip, drip or delay the informs and dump it on a friday. we are supposed to deal with it and say, isn't this wonderful that we have the informs. but it's a fact, is it not, moving to benghazi for a second, we had the al qaeda leader proclaiming that the benghazi response shows that america is on the defensive, that we're gaining ground. look, that's boasting on their part, obviously. but still, the signals that aret america has a confused foreign policy and a weakened defensive posture. >> it's really a weak reaction. look, during the clinton administration issue we had the bombing of the uss cole. we had the implosion, the terrorist attack on our embassies in tanzania and kenya. and really, nothing was done.

we know when these things happen, our enemies are emboldened and they feel like there is a weak response. ironically, we have an administration that is quick to put an american in jail for making a youtube video and for disciplining seven navy seals for being consultants on a videogame. so they're quick to discipline americans. but when it comes to foreigners, they just keep turning the other cheek and sending a weak message. >> rick, great to see you, as always. thanks. before we go, a programming note, i will be on fox news sunday this week. so tune in on sunday. i will be on the panel. don't forget to check out laura ingraham dot-com and find out information about my radio show, sign up to become a laura 365 member. and on twitter. so i want to get all of your tweets tonight. that's it. thanks for watching tonight. bill will be back in the saddle on monday.